See, that headline could so easily have been "Lindsay Lohan Does Deep Throat". But we're classier than that here. We have standards. We don't go for the cheap shots.
Anyway, the news is that Lindsay Lohan is gagging for the role of Linda Lovelace in Inferno, a biopic to be directed by Matthew Wilder. The project's producer, Wali Razaqi, sort of confirmed to the LA Times that Lohan was aboard, saying, "We've all thought that Lindsay would be a great choice for a while now, and we're all convinced that she is going to do it." That's actually quite a long way from saying "Lindsay is definitely doing it and has signed a contract", but all expectations seem to be that the official done deal will be announced at the Cannes festival later this month.
Lovelace (real name Linda Boreman) came to fame as the star of the notorious, epoch-making porno **Deep Throat **in 1972. The movie, which boasted an actual "plot" and higher production values than was the norm, was a runaway success, kicking off a brief middle-class fascination with "porno-chic" and raking in cash even as it was getting banned left, right and centre. Some reports claim it as one of the highest-grossing (in real terms) films of all time.
Lovelace though, always claimed that her porn-life was the result of often violent coercion by her then-husband Chuck Traynor. In later life she became an anti-porn activist.
"I would say it's probably one of the most challenging roles any actor could play, because she was so battered and beat up emotionally," says Razaqi. "I think it’s gonna take everything Lindsay has to really be able to pull it off." Stop sniggering at the back there.
He's quick to deny that he thinks Lohan and Lovelace are in any way similar, but concedes that the "ups and downs" of the infamously off-the-rails Mean Girls star (recently, strangely, to be heard narrating a BBC documentary on people trafficking) make her fascinating casting.
Oh, and Bill Pullman will co-star as Hugh Hefner.
Lohan also features in Machete, which you'll find elsewhere in News today, and we'll bring you that officially official Inferno announcement when (and if) it happens.
So are we happy that Lohan's looking to make films rather than headlines again? And what do you reckon are her chances of getting insurance coverage for a starring role?